June 28, 2023 - Arusha to Tarangire National Park, Tanzania

After breakfast we loaded our vehicle and set off towards Tarangire National Park for a full day game drive. We made a couple stops before leaving town to get stamps and stop at an ATM. Who knows how long it will take for the postcard to arrive in Colorado, but it will be interesting to find out!
Tarangire is well known for its large elephant population and baobob trees. It is the center of the annual migratory cycle that includes up to 3000 elephants, 25,000 wildebeest and 30,000 zebras. We didn't see that many, but we did see plenty!

Along the way to the national park we passed several Masaii people moving their herds of goats, cows, and donkeys to the watering holes. You can see some of the houses in a small village below.
Moving animals


The wooden boxes in the acacia tree are beehives. Keeping them off the ground helps keep them away from smaller animals.

We arrived at the entrance to the park and while Allandin went in to pay the entrance fee, we loaded up with sunscreen and and bug spray because there are also tse tse flies in the park.

Tarangire National Park is the sixth largest park in Tanzania with a size of 2850 square kilometers. It is also home to 450 different species of birds. One of the first things we spotted were a couple impalas.

We loved seeing so many zebras. When they are young they are white and brown, not black. They stay brown until they are between 3-4 years old. We saw hundreds of zebras today - some near watering holes, some in the fields, and some just walking down the road.


There were lots of weaver bird nests in the trees, too.

Near one of the watering holes we saw a lion - and so did almost every other tour vehicle in the park!


This one was across the road on a small mound. Both of these lions were colared, so they could be tracked, usually for research.

We spotted a couple Von Der Deckens hornbills along the way.

Other sightings incuded dwarf mongoose on a termite mound.


Another interesting animal was the bush hyrax or dassie. It looks a little like an oversized guinea pig or rabbit with short ears. They have stumpy toes with hoof-like nails; three toes on the back feet and four on the front. The bottoms of their feet have a rubbery texture to assist them in climbing steep rock surfaces and trees.


We spotted two dik diks in the bush. They are a species of small antelope that live in the bushlands of eastern and southern Africa. Dik-diks are only 15-18 inches tall at their shoulders and weigh between 6-15 pounds! They are so cute!!
Two Elans
Giraffe
Impalas

Did I mention that we saw elephants today? They crossed in front of our vehicle and used the large tree as a scratching post.

Here are a few of the birds we saw today.

Ground hornbill
Crowned Lapwings (plover)
Brown snake eagle
Starling

Lilac Breasted Roller

Von Der Deckens Hornbill
Vulture
White Belly Go-Away Birds
White Crowned Shrike
White Headed Buffalo Weaver
White Headed Go-Away Birds
Yellow Necked Frankolins

We stopped to see some of the baobob trees. They are huge! Unfortunately, poachers cut holes in the trees and used them to scout animals, then trap and store them before smuggling ivory out.

If you look closely at the tree below you can see one with a hole in it.

We stopped at another and all seven of us could stand inside the tree and there was still lots of room!
We have had lunch boxes and stopped at a nice picnic area, however, there were monkeys everywhere so we had to keep an eye on our food!

Near the end of the day we spotted a Nile monitor lizard crossing the road. He was pretty big ... and kind of ugly.

After a long day, we arrived at our lodge.

Our room
View of the watering hole from the lodge restaurant near sunset.


Maribu storks in the tree.
So it was another full day and everyone is getting along! Yeah. More when we have good internet.